Window-Dressing and Lobbying in Performance-Budgeting: a Model for the Public Sector

Performance budgeting schemes in the public sector have to operate with imperfect performance measures. We argue that these imperfections lead to wasteful fund-seeking (window dressing and lobbying) by the administrative units that produce public services. We develop a game-theoretical model to anal...

Disgrifiad llawn

Wedi'i Gadw mewn:
Manylion Llyfryddiaeth
Cyhoeddwyd yn:MAGKS - Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics (Band 12-2012)
Prif Awduron: Bischoff, Ivo, Blaeschke, Frédéric
Fformat: Arbeit
Iaith:Saesneg
Cyhoeddwyd: Philipps-Universität Marburg 2012
Pynciau:
Mynediad Ar-lein:Testun PDF llawn
Tagiau: Ychwanegu Tag
Dim Tagiau, Byddwch y cyntaf i dagio'r cofnod hwn!
Disgrifiad
Crynodeb:Performance budgeting schemes in the public sector have to operate with imperfect performance measures. We argue that these imperfections lead to wasteful fund-seeking (window dressing and lobbying) by the administrative units that produce public services. We develop a game-theoretical model to analyse the trade-off between the productivity-enhancing effect of performance budgeting and the social waste it induces. The optimal performancebudgetingscheme crucially depends on the objective functions of administrative units, the available performance signal and the welfare function used. We compare a performance signal base on units’ effort to a signal based on their output and show that the former evokes more social waste while the latter amplifies regional inequality. Forgone welfare gains or even welfare losses arise when the government is opportunistic. Our model and its major conclusions apply to a large array of publicly installed contests such as programs of international organisations like the IMF and conditional grant schemes in federalist countries.
ISSN:1867-3678
DOI:10.17192/es2024.0126